Andre Iguodala on why he put off retirement to return to Warriors

Andre Iguodala explains the outside influences that helped convince him to play a final NBA season with the Golden State Warriors.

Andre Iguodala might very well have called his playing career quits if it was up to him alone. The 38-year-old, in fact, claimed on Friday while announcing his return to the Golden State Warriors that he was “retired for most of the summer.” After weeks of public and private cajoling from the Golden State Warriors power brokers, though, Iguodala knew exactly who to “blame” for his decision to play his 19th and final season in the NBA.

“I'm gonna blame a few people. Steph Curry is one person that I'm gonna blame,” Iguodala said on Friday's edition of Point Forward. “But as a group, I'm blaming Draymond, Steph and Klay, Steve Kerr a little bit, Bob Myers. I think they really just showed me a lot of love.”

It wasn't just Iguodala's personal fealty to his longtime team that convinced him to stave off retirement for one more year, though. His intangible value to the Warriors in their quest for back-to-back championships wasn't a sole deciding factor, either.

Steve Kerr and Draymond Green, specifically, helped Iguodala realize that he still has a lot to offer Golden State as not just a team-wide culture-setter and bridge of communication from the coaching staff to his teammates, but an actual basketball player.

“They really helped me see my presence outside of physically playing basketball, but also I think Steve was a big culprit in terms of like, ‘Listen, we really need you on the court,' and Draymond was big on that as well with the texts,” Iguodala said.

Iguodala won't play a significant role for the Warriors in 2022-23. He'll surely get fewer minutes per game during the regular season than the 19.5 he averaged a year ago, a career-low, and will undoubtedly be held out of back-to-backs. There will inevitably be times he's on the active roster, sitting out games entirely despite full health.

But Iguodala's presence will be felt with Golden State over the 82-game grind regardless, and there's every reason to believe he could play a valuable role off the bench when the Warriors' title defense begins in earnest come playoff time. Pencil him in as this team's third-best perimeter playmaker behind Stephen Curry and Jordan Poole. A healthy Iguodala will inevitably have his number called in the postseason when Golden State needs an extra dose of defense and lineup flexibility, too.

Iguodala alluded on Friday to Golden State already having a plan in place to help keep his body fresh throughout 2022-23. Nothing will inform the totality of his impact on the Warriors more than his ability to avoid injury. But like Curry, Green, Thompson, Kerr and Bob Myers know better than anyone, Iguodala's influence extends far beyond the basketball court, a reality Golden State is poised to benefit from en masse while striving for consecutive titles.